Falls Woman Who Faked Cancer Sentenced To Jail

A Falls Township woman who pretended to have cancer and filed more than a half-million dollars in medical claims for treatments was sentenced Wednesday to 11½ to 23 months in Bucks County jail.

Cynthia Clarey, 61, admitted defrauding her insurance company by filing the phony medical claims between February 2013 and December 2014, the Bucks County District Attorney’s office said.

In addition to the prison sentence, Clarey was ordered to reimburse her insurer for nearly $135,000 in payments she received for the cancer treatments that never happened.

During her sentencing, she also offered to do community service to help cancer patients. That comment prompted an angry response from Judge Wallace H. Bateman, who said her crimes were “an insult to every person who suffers from cancer.”

Clarey in January pleaded guilty to insurance fraud, theft by deception, attempted theft by deception and five counts of identity theft – all felonies.

The District Attorney’s office said county detectives began investigating Clarey last summer after receiving information from Allstate.

According to information from the District Attorney’s office, Clarey had obtained a cancer treatment policy in 2011, when a doctor had suspected that her husband might be suffering from cancer. That suspicion proved false, but in February 2013, Clarey nonetheless began submitting claims for reimbursement of prostate cancer treatment for her husband, primarily chemotherapy and radiation, detectives found.

Detectives said she spent about $4,000 for furniture and $8,900 on her daughter’s wedding during the time she was receiving the insurance payouts.